To ask your interior design hates

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For me it’s got to be those massive bloody clocks made up of parts which get stuck to the wall. We’re house hunting at the moment and they’re in almost every kitchen. Those and navy walls nearly always coupled with wicker furniture and cheese plants - it feels like such a ‘done’ look now.

Interested to hear yours!

Hahaha OP we are in the process of buying a new house and there are navy feature walls and plants in baskets everywhere - 3 rooms and the hallway in the property we have offered on! I’m not too offended but they will be going!

Those bloody clocks are very offensive though!!

@ConstitutionHill oh well yes, that cushion is very special. I used to admire the Pat Butcher Wall Clock on Amazon and there was also an equally collectable Shane Richie wall clock, the reviews were some of the funniest things I’ve ever read.

Ah. When you open a uPVC front door in a poorly ventilated house; the door opens and the smell hits you with full force.

I normally find quite a few things in my house on the list of MN hates
I have metro tiles in the cloakroom and bathroom. I love them and doesn't look like any public toilet I've been in!
We have brown leather sofas and arm chairs, probably 20 years old and comfortable, and have survived all sorts of spillages and baby puke!
Eyelet curtains - not sure what's meant to be wrong with them but they don't offend me!
Very few books around (I must be an uneducated idiot)
Feature walls (we did them a long time ago and some could do with freshening up....but I'm still planning a feature wall in a different colour!)

But it all works for us, and we like it.

(I don't have many plants because I can't be trusted to look after them!)

A good fabric sofa lasts too.

I like homes that show the character of the owner so while I might not choose it, I don’t hate it. Two exceptions are fake grass and vertical office blinds.

We bought a new sofa last year but fabric sofas had lasted 19 years - 2 cats, a dog (puppy did kind of finish it off with chewing), 3 dc later we finally needed to replace it. It looked tatty but could have lasted with throws over if we needed it to.

Family photos always reminds me of Captain Holt. I can’t say I disagree with him.

Twee signs and stickers
Carpet
Green
Magnolia
Alcohol bottle collections
White appliances

Black, navy or dark teal walls.
Too many plants.

Granted, we live in a bit of a shithole in terms of very old paint, ancient kitchen, tired furniture etc etc ... but parts of it are cosy, lived-in and reflect ourselves. I can't stand the blah grey/neutral thing, and really JUDGE if it looks like people go out and buy all their pictures/ornaments/cushions etc in one go, every 3 years, to go with the colour scheme.

The other thing I loathe is BIG pattern 'feature' wallpaper, either everywhere or just on one wall. Actually I hate most wallpapers but some are classic and quite nice, I suppose. Fugly big patterns, often featuring tropical birds or animals or too many ferny plants - ugh. Bonus points if there's anything metallic involved.

Oh, and those tacky metal 'sculptures' made from faux-hammered bits of metal (aluminium?) oxidised to look coppery or rainbow colours. Usually a bit abstract. To me, they scream 'we have no taste and we're afraid of getting it wrong, but we know this wall's a bit bare, so ...'

I should add I am guilty of hideous grey carpet (was here when I arrived) and metro tiles. Tbh the metro tiles are pretty boring but I had to finish the kitchen cheaply!

Too many hard surfaces: they reflect noise and everything you drop on them breaks.

Open plan. I don't want to look at dirty pots when I eat. No matter how good the extractor fan, there is always a film of grease.

Dark paint so you need loads of lights. Not exactly eco friendly.

Things artfully placed on coffee tables so there is nowhere to put down a cup.
Furniture too large for the room.
Things you have to move to get to other things. eg books laid horizontally.
And grey, stainless steel, and marble.

Crushed velvet sofas and black chandeliers.

Laboratory white kitchens, with white floors, walls and window frames.

Another interior design hate is people who enjoyed decorating their own house and think they have flare for interior design.

Grey walls, shiny grey carpet, beige leather sofas that look like fat people have melted, grown men with children's curtains and matching lampshades (yes, he was 42 and had toddler stars everywhere through choice) "jaunty" angled rugs in the middle of a room.

• Radiators that aren't under the windows: now there's two sections of wall that I can't put shelving or a wardrobe against instead of only one.
• Those goddamn wall signs about "live laugh love" and prosecco.
• Fitted carpet: it's impossible to really clean it after a spill.
• Pendant lamps in kitchens: no matter where you stand, your own shadow makes dark the thing in front of you.
• Fake exposed beams in ceilings.
• Fake wooden wall panelling.
• Coffee table books: books live in bookcases and shelves.
• Mass market art. Take your own photos, draw your own pictures, buy something by a local artist.
• Those electric fires that fail to look like a real fire.
• Pianos in houses where no one actually plays the piano.
• Under-counter kitchen appliances that are deeper than the counter so they stick out
• Not having a bathtub.
• Not having a shower over the bathtub so that you can use the shower to rinse your hair during a bath.
• Having a separate loo that doesn't have its own basin so you have to then go into the bathroom anyway to wash your hands.
• Stinky candles, especially the ones in jars.
• Those stinky stick things that go in a little vial of stinky liquid.

Open plans. The last thing I want is for guests to see me scrambling around in the kitchen trying to fix things that are going sideways, cursing all the while. I want a moment to collect myself, and enter the "visiting area" with a smile on my face!

I'm so done with that particular kind of hyper-modern instagram-friendly minimalist design you see everywhere now. Just grey and cold and sterile and boring. I say bring back a bit of maximalism, it's so much more COSY

GALLERY WALLS

Trends, readily available on the high street.

Grey (I agree)
Live, Love, etc., although Fuck above the bed is OK
Feature walls
Dark walls (unless huge, grand rooms)
Endless plates on walls
Kitsch ornaments
Prints from furniture shops that are reproduced all over the place - modern day green ladies ifyswim

@bombastix but why is it an air lock of odour compared to a normal door?

Also hate brown rainbows that seem to be everywhere. And macrame.

Argh the little stinky stick things!!! I HATE THEM
PIL have them in their bathroom and they make the whole room smell how I always imagined the gunge from 90s kids programmes smelled (no idea if gunge actually smelled like that tbh)

It's the exterior fitment; uPVC is very good at keeping out drafts, but equally very good at containing odour.

I grew up in a very well ventilated house; and a wooden front door. Makes a big difference to retaining heat and smells.

Prints from furniture shops that are reproduced all over the place - modern day green ladies ifyswim

What have Glasgow midwives got to do with prints?